As part of my unit on Newton's Law I wanted to informally assess if the students understood how the three laws were interrelated (this was not formally taught to the students). To informally assess this I gave the students the option to either: write a paragraph, create a graphic organizer, or write a narrative between two (2) students. The three topics (laws) covered are: Inertia, F=ma, Equal/Opposite Action.
Learning goals:
The students will be able to list the three laws.
The students will be able to embellish on the three laws and make relations.
The students will be able to relate the three laws to each other.
Inquiry Practices:
Engage in discussion with partner to help structure assignment.
Identify what is being asked of them and writing a structured paragraph.
Design a graphic organizer that meets their personal requirements to serve as a learning aid.
B. Formal Assessment
As part of the unit on Newton's Laws I formally assessed the students knowledge by giving a test that covered a broad overview of the three laws.
40 Points - 10 Questions
3 Questions on Newton's 1st
6 Questions on Newton's 2nd
1 Question on Newton's 3rd
Learning goals were to assess students knowledge of the material with a variety of lower level bloom's taxonomy-based questions. less than 10% of the questions were designed to focus on higher level taxonomies including synthesis.
III. Assessments
A. Description of Informal Assessment
To informally assess this I gave the students the option to either: write a paragraph, create a graphic organizer, or write a narrative between two (2) students. The first topic is Newton's 1st Law: Inertia. Inertia discusses how objects in our universe have a tendency to remain in their state of rest/motion. It is a governing rule in the universe we live in. Newton's 2nd is Force = Mass * Acceleration. It provides an analytical way to calculate position change of objects. Newton's 3rd discusses how every action has an equal but opposite reaction. This law often applies when analyzing the response objects have to having forces exerted on them. A chart to describe their relation is as follows:
Link to Assessment: Assessment was given as an explanation and written on board.
B. Description of Formal Assessment
40 Points - 10 Questions
3 Questions on Newton's 1st
6 Questions on Newton's 2nd
1 Question on Newton's 3rd
The curriculum for this chapter was designed in such a way that the students were given a general overview of newton's laws before a more complex interpretation was introduced later in the unit. Therefore, the primary focus of this assessment was to evaluate the student knowledge of basic understand and classification of newton's 3 laws. However, some of the questions involving higher levels of bloom's taxonomy involved the synthesis of 2 (or more) laws to answer the question. This sort of question the student was not initially introduced to. However, by having a full understanding of all three laws one should be able to synthesize a conclusion for the question.
Class context for informal assessment:
After the third and final law was introduced to the students I felt it was necessary to not only assess their knowledge of the three laws, but also the correlation between them. I knew what the formal assessment would be (hint hint), and decided that this informal assessment would be best for both the students (to prep for the formal assessment in the future) and for me to gauge what sunk in well and what needs more work prior to assessment day.
Class context for formal assessment:
As mentioned prior, the unit began with an introduction to all of newton's 3 laws. One could say the first week of the unit is a "tasting" of the three laws so that future depth can be achieve when studying each law individually. For instance, when covering newton's 2nd law and its analytical implications one can mention how the reaction force on an object is such-and-such without confusion of the term "reaction force". The timing of this quiz was very well placed because not only did it review and assess the students knowledge of the three laws, but also it preempted the students towards the kind of thinking we would be doing in the more in-depth work with the laws individually.
B. Analysis of Informal Assessment
The informal assessment went over very well with the students. Many of them enjoyed the assignment however did not fill in the information was expected. I gave the example to the students (picture above) so they had a visual to my auditory and step-written directions. Unlike many of the assignments given to the students prior, this one had a 100% submission. However, the content of the submission was sub-par. Many of the students only discussed the three laws separately and less than 10% actually tried to make a relationship between the three laws. Some of them even simply rephrased the question into a graphics organizer or dialogue. Though this assessment was a leap forward in receiving 100% submission (prior was approx. 70%), it relayed that the students were very set back in terms of their basic understanding the three laws and their ability to synthesize them together.
C. Analysis of Formal Assessment
40 Points - 10 Questions
3 Questions on Newton's 1st
6 Questions on Newton's 2nd
1 Question on Newton's 3rd
Each question in the assessment was of equal value and as seen above the majority of which are involving newton's 2nd law. These proportions of questions are directly correlated to the amount of time in the curriculum that is supposed to be spent on each law of motion. The majority of which is newton's 2nd law and its analytical implications. About half that time is spent on inertia and its experimental importance. And lastly, newton's 3rd law and the demonstrations that are of significance.
This assessment was given to the Physics I class (because I only have one class of such). Twenty-three students received the test and the average score was a 71%. The range was 30%-100%. The mode was 60%. Females scored an average of 78% whereas males scored an average of 69%. During this assessment it was apparent that many students were overly confused by the simple problems that were designed just to recall knowledge. The synthesizing questions to follow left them completely lost.
V. Commentary / Reflection
A. Reflections from Informal Assessment
As mentioned before, the assessment was very pleasing in terms of the fact that the students were all trying hard and working together to complete the assignment. However, the fact that many of the did not complete it correctly or simply did not have enough background knowledge to complete it was not. Especially when all the students had notes from all three introductions to the laws. AND all the students were given the directions for the assignment in THREE different ways (directions, visual example, and auditory instructions). I personally felt I went above and beyond to assign a simple-informal assignment. However, after receiving the student work and posting my comments I found that much more time was needed prior to giving the formal assessment. We spent two more days simply reviewing the three laws (introduction) and did an inquiry-based activity involving the three laws and how they are all related. As you can further read, the students still struggled with the future-formal assessment.
B. Reflections from Formal Assessment
While administering the test the students were asking many more questions than anticipated and seemed to be struggling more heavily than expected on the recalling knowledge problems. Once the students made it to the synthesizing questions they were completely lost. Also, much to my dismay the structure of the class was 5 rows x 3 columns of "pair" desks. Unfortunately, due to the fact that this classroom was shared by THREE other teachers over the course of a 7-period run I was unable to organize the room to prevent cheating. Many students had to be asked to look at their own papers while other students asked questions at polar opposite ends of the classroom (almost like they've done it many times before). After this assessment I made 2-versions of following tests.
VI. Conclusions
This informal/formal assessment pair I felt would be extremely effective if used in a non-asterisked classroom scenario. When this assessment was given I was still in the process of converting the students into my own classroom and battling the "oh we have a student teacher, this will be easy" mentality that many (if not all) of them had. To test my theory I did this same informal/formal structure in a future unit on "Work" and found many of the students exceeded quite well on the formal assessment (average 87%). This being after "order" was established and many of the seniors were brought back from the "land of senioritis".
What I found to be most effective was that the students were unknowingly doing a informal assessment that mirrored (in principle) the ideas and tools necessary to be successful on the formal (graded) assessment to follow. In a sense, I was able to see where the students weaknesses were (aka, the whole point of informal assessment), and actually predict the class average (within +/- 5%) of the assessment. Both for the assessment pair discussed here and the future informal/formal pair on "Work".
Formal and Informal Assessment of Student Learning
Name: David Kenahan
I. Assignment Description/Requirements
Formal Informal Assessments 2009
II. Description of Learning Goals
A. Informal Assessment
B. Formal Assessment
III. Assessments
A. Description of Informal Assessment
To informally assess this I gave the students the option to either: write a paragraph, create a graphic organizer, or write a narrative between two (2) students. The first topic is Newton's 1st Law: Inertia. Inertia discusses how objects in our universe have a tendency to remain in their state of rest/motion. It is a governing rule in the universe we live in. Newton's 2nd is Force = Mass * Acceleration. It provides an analytical way to calculate position change of objects. Newton's 3rd discusses how every action has an equal but opposite reaction. This law often applies when analyzing the response objects have to having forces exerted on them. A chart to describe their relation is as follows:B. Description of Formal Assessment
IV. Analysis
A. Description of Class Context
Class context for informal assessment:After the third and final law was introduced to the students I felt it was necessary to not only assess their knowledge of the three laws, but also the correlation between them. I knew what the formal assessment would be (hint hint), and decided that this informal assessment would be best for both the students (to prep for the formal assessment in the future) and for me to gauge what sunk in well and what needs more work prior to assessment day.
Class context for formal assessment:
As mentioned prior, the unit began with an introduction to all of newton's 3 laws. One could say the first week of the unit is a "tasting" of the three laws so that future depth can be achieve when studying each law individually. For instance, when covering newton's 2nd law and its analytical implications one can mention how the reaction force on an object is such-and-such without confusion of the term "reaction force". The timing of this quiz was very well placed because not only did it review and assess the students knowledge of the three laws, but also it preempted the students towards the kind of thinking we would be doing in the more in-depth work with the laws individually.
B. Analysis of Informal Assessment
The informal assessment went over very well with the students. Many of them enjoyed the assignment however did not fill in the information was expected. I gave the example to the students (picture above) so they had a visual to my auditory and step-written directions. Unlike many of the assignments given to the students prior, this one had a 100% submission. However, the content of the submission was sub-par. Many of the students only discussed the three laws separately and less than 10% actually tried to make a relationship between the three laws. Some of them even simply rephrased the question into a graphics organizer or dialogue. Though this assessment was a leap forward in receiving 100% submission (prior was approx. 70%), it relayed that the students were very set back in terms of their basic understanding the three laws and their ability to synthesize them together.C. Analysis of Formal Assessment
- 40 Points - 10 Questions
- 3 Questions on Newton's 1st
- 6 Questions on Newton's 2nd
- 1 Question on Newton's 3rd
Each question in the assessment was of equal value and as seen above the majority of which are involving newton's 2nd law. These proportions of questions are directly correlated to the amount of time in the curriculum that is supposed to be spent on each law of motion. The majority of which is newton's 2nd law and its analytical implications. About half that time is spent on inertia and its experimental importance. And lastly, newton's 3rd law and the demonstrations that are of significance.This assessment was given to the Physics I class (because I only have one class of such). Twenty-three students received the test and the average score was a 71%. The range was 30%-100%. The mode was 60%. Females scored an average of 78% whereas males scored an average of 69%. During this assessment it was apparent that many students were overly confused by the simple problems that were designed just to recall knowledge. The synthesizing questions to follow left them completely lost.
V. Commentary / Reflection
A. Reflections from Informal Assessment
As mentioned before, the assessment was very pleasing in terms of the fact that the students were all trying hard and working together to complete the assignment. However, the fact that many of the did not complete it correctly or simply did not have enough background knowledge to complete it was not. Especially when all the students had notes from all three introductions to the laws. AND all the students were given the directions for the assignment in THREE different ways (directions, visual example, and auditory instructions). I personally felt I went above and beyond to assign a simple-informal assignment. However, after receiving the student work and posting my comments I found that much more time was needed prior to giving the formal assessment. We spent two more days simply reviewing the three laws (introduction) and did an inquiry-based activity involving the three laws and how they are all related. As you can further read, the students still struggled with the future-formal assessment.B. Reflections from Formal Assessment
While administering the test the students were asking many more questions than anticipated and seemed to be struggling more heavily than expected on the recalling knowledge problems. Once the students made it to the synthesizing questions they were completely lost. Also, much to my dismay the structure of the class was 5 rows x 3 columns of "pair" desks. Unfortunately, due to the fact that this classroom was shared by THREE other teachers over the course of a 7-period run I was unable to organize the room to prevent cheating. Many students had to be asked to look at their own papers while other students asked questions at polar opposite ends of the classroom (almost like they've done it many times before). After this assessment I made 2-versions of following tests.VI. Conclusions
This informal/formal assessment pair I felt would be extremely effective if used in a non-asterisked classroom scenario. When this assessment was given I was still in the process of converting the students into my own classroom and battling the "oh we have a student teacher, this will be easy" mentality that many (if not all) of them had. To test my theory I did this same informal/formal structure in a future unit on "Work" and found many of the students exceeded quite well on the formal assessment (average 87%). This being after "order" was established and many of the seniors were brought back from the "land of senioritis".What I found to be most effective was that the students were unknowingly doing a informal assessment that mirrored (in principle) the ideas and tools necessary to be successful on the formal (graded) assessment to follow. In a sense, I was able to see where the students weaknesses were (aka, the whole point of informal assessment), and actually predict the class average (within +/- 5%) of the assessment. Both for the assessment pair discussed here and the future informal/formal pair on "Work".